UEFA rejects Schalke's Drogba appeal

Schalke's appeal against the result of last week's Champions League match against Galatasarary, made because they questioned whether Didier Drogba should have been playing, has been rejected by UEFA.

The Bundesliga club drew 1-1 in Turkey but questioned whether or not the former Chelsea striker should have played.

Drogba had joined Galatasaray in January after claiming his contract with Shanghai Shenhua had been annulled due to a failure to pay his wages, but the Chinese club disputed that claim.

That meant the deal, which had been announced at the end of January, had to be delayed.

FIFA granted Drogba a temporary licence to play for the Turkish club one week ahead of the Champions League game pending its own investigation into the contract claims, and UEFA did not confirm Drogba's registration for the Champions League until February 5.

Schalke's finance manager, Peter Peters, had said there was enough uncertainty over Drogba's involvement to prompt an appeal and asked UEFA to examine the existing contracts.

However, Galatasaray officials had said they were not concerned.

"FIFA has sent a temporary licence to the Turkish Football Federation and the TFF demanded UEFA's approval for the use of the temporary licence," Galatasaray vice president Ali Durust had told Turkish TV channel NTV Spor.

"Then UEFA made it clear to Galatasaray and TFF that there were no problems on the usage of the temporary licence."

After enduring a tricky start to his Manchester United career, perhaps it is fair that Marcos Rojo celebrated so boisterously as he watched his first professional club Estudiantes beat fierce rivals Gimnasia